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Allied Irish Banks (AIB) reported steady first-half profits, lower bad loans and higher lending and capital on Friday as it continues to recover a decade after the country’s banking crash.

“The financial results for the first half of the year were very good and towards the upper end of expectations. They confirm that AIB continues to deliver against the financial commitments made during last year's IPO process,” AIB chief executive Bernard Byrne said in a statement.

The government sold a 29 per cent stake in the bank last year in Europe’s largest initial public offering (IPO).

It reported a pre-tax profit of 762 million euros versus 761 million a year earlier.

Non-performing exposures (NPEs) fell to 7.5 billion euros from 9.2 billions euros three months earlier, boosted by the sale of a 1.1 billion euro portfolio of bad loans in May. In 2013, its stock of NPEs stood at 31 billion euros.